BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL ARGUMENT: DEFINING AND JUSTIFYING PROBLEMS

Three Goals:

Define your problem

Justify your problem

Explain your argument (i.e., what are you going to do in this paper?)

Defining Research Problems

What is a research problem? A problem is a statement, not a question.

However, a good problem can be restated in one or more ways to produce one or more research questions.

A problem can be something to be explained, to be further understood, to be addressed, unpacked, etc.

Characteristics of a good problem: Should state the concepts to be related

clearly and unambiguously Solution should be feasible

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Moving a Problem from General to Specific

“Could use of technology X affect society in a positive way?”

“If we looked at two populations, one using technology X and one not using it, would they differ?”

“How is the use of technology X related to productivity and work satisfaction in task groups within population Y?”

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Example Problem:

“Social networks play an integral role in the diffusion of information communication technologies (ICT’s) in the Western world….This is a trend that becomes especial strong in impoverished and undereducated regions, given recent studies showing that lower economic development correlates with a higher sense of online community. A key problem for researchers and policy makers is how to understand and respond to the differences between developed and developing regions, especially as it relates to different structural characteristics of social networks that facilitate the diffusion of new information technologies. This is an especially important problem because many new information technologies are introduced to developing regions from more developed regions without any acknowledgement of the differences between these areas. As I will explain in more detail, such disregard for these differences has led to many failed (and expensive) efforts to diffuse new ICT’s into developing regions. In this paper I will address this gap by extrapolating several specific lessons gleaned from the literature on diffusion networks, virtual communities, and three case studies of digital initiative in underprivileged populations.”

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Justifying Research Problems Explain what is not known about the problem.

Why does the problem matter?

Provide documentation that this is actually a problem.

Available results, findings, statistics, etc from other studies?

Available literature that shows that this is a needed area of inquiry?

Remember: The simple fact that no one may have looked at this problem is not sufficient justification.

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Justification as Significance of the Study (from Creswell 2003)

What are the ways that the study will add to the scholarly research/literature in the field?

How does the study improve practice?

How might the study improve policy?

…there are others…the key is to explain why this “problem” is actually a problem at all.

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The Justification…

“Social networks play an integral role in the diffusion of information communication technologies (ICT’s) in the Western world….This is a trend that becomes especial strong in impoverished and undereducated regions, given recent studies showing that lower economic development correlates with a higher sense of online community. A key problem for researchers and policy makers is how to understand and respond to the differences between developed and developing regions, especially as it relates to different structural characteristics of social networks that facilitate the diffusion of new information technologies. This is an especially important problem because many new information technologies are introduced to developing regions from more developed regions without any acknowledgement of the differences between these areas. As I will explain in more detail, such disregard for these differences has led to many failed (and expensive) efforts to diffuse new ICT’s into developing regions. In this paper I will address this gap by extrapolating several specific lessons gleaned from the literature on diffusion networks, virtual communities, and three case studies of digital initiative in underprivileged populations.”

The Argument…

“Social networks play an integral role in the diffusion of information communication technologies (ICT’s) in the Western world….This is a trend that becomes especial strong in impoverished and undereducated regions, given recent studies showing that lower economic development correlates with a higher sense of online community. A key problem for researchers and policy makers is how to understand and respond to the differences between developed and developing regions, especially as it relates to different structural characteristics of social networks that facilitate the diffusion of new information technologies. This is an especially important problem because many new information technologies are introduced to developing regions from more developed regions without any acknowledgement of the differences between these areas. As I will explain in more detail, such disregard for these differences has led to many failed (and expensive) efforts to diffuse new ICT’s into developing regions. In this paper I will address this gap by extrapolating several specific lessons gleaned from the literature on diffusion networks, virtual communities, and three case studies of digital initiative in underprivileged populations.”

Setting up your plan…

After reading in your topic area, try to state your problem, its justification and what you think you might want to do about it (the argument). Write this up as a paragraph or two, noting that you

will most likely re-write this later.

Develop an outline of all of the major parts of the paper that you will need in order to support your argument. This type of outline should be as detailed as

possible, and have a logical structure that serves to support the argument.

Where to find appropriate literature? JSTOR.ORG

GOOGLE SCHOLAR

THE WEB OF KNOWLEDGE

THE LIBRARY

Study GroupsGroup 1Group 1

Group 4Group 4

Group 2Group 2

Group 5Group 5

Group 3Group 3

Group 6Group 6

Shawna HeinAshwin MatthewFelix MorioAshkan Soltani

Michael LeeNick RabinowitzLuke RheeAylin Selcukoglu

Anuradha RoyRuchi KumarIsaac Salier-HellendagChristine Zhong

Deepti ChittamuruShauna EpsteinJosh GomezSrikanth Narayan

Amanda CoffeeJon HicksJim MillerHazel OnsrudPierre Tchetgen

Jon BreitbartKathleen LuTravis PinnickAnirban SenSami Vihavainen